Toward Human-centered Intelligent Assistance Systems in Manufacturing: Challenges and Potentials for Operator 5.0

The human-centered view emphasizes various aspects including usability, acceptance, and understandability, as they emerge in the interaction between humans and intelligent systems. For intelligent assistance systems to provide long-term added value in working environments, it is of major importance to develop a positive user experience. However, a positive user experience does not appear by itself but must be systematically investigated and designed. In this paper, we focus on the role of operator 5.0 in manufacturing and provide an overview of the main challenges and potentials related to working with intelligent systems. Drawing upon state-of-the-art literature and findings from industry (context and expert interviews and user experience workshops), this paper investigates the main discontinuous production processes (i.e., process monitoring, process optimization, process maintenance) that will undergo a series of changes due to integration of cutting-edge technologies (such as Digital Twins, Extended Reality, and Artificial Intelligence). It then identifies requirements and discusses key challenges for the realization of human-centered assistance systems. By highlighting underexplored research questions and potential improvements in industrial settings, this paper provides researchers and practitioners to establish a holistic understanding of the user experience along the industry 5.0 journey
Keywords: human-centered design; smart manufacturing; assistance system; Industry 5.0